This invention relates to a plate to be held by an individual and more particularly to a molded plate of integral construction for holding a beverage container and food in a highly stable manner.
Hand-held plates for carrying foods, beverage containers and accessories such as utensils are well known generally. The following U.S. patents disclose plates of this nature: U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,077, issued Mar. 4, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,057, issued Jul. 4, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,856, issued Sep. 14, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,528, issued Nov. 9, 1993, U.S. Design Pat. No. D206,390, issued Dec. 6, 1966, U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,266, issued Jul. 4, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,681, issued Apr. 18, 1972, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,459, issued Jun. 6, 1995, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,908, issued Dec. 15, 1992.
As will be seen below, the invention disclosed and claimed herein incorporates a number of features contributing to the utility of the invention, including the use of flexible beverage container engagement flaps for holding a beverage container in a highly stable manner. The invention is characterized by its strength, stability and ease of use. The invention can readily accommodate different types, sizes and shapes of beverage containers.
The present invention relates to a hand-held plate for holding a beverage container and food. The plate is of integral, molded construction and includes an outer rim portion.
The plate also includes a food receptacle portion disposed inwardly of the outer rim portion and defined by a food receptacle side wall and a food receptacle bottom wall.
The plate also includes a beverage container holder portion disposed inwardly of the outer rim portion and adjacent to the food receptacle portion.
The beverage container holder portion includes a generally planar wall extending between the outer rim portion and the food receptacle side wall. The generally planar wall is disposed at a higher elevation than the food receptacle bottom wall and defines an opening for accommodating a beverage container.
The beverage container holder portion additionally includes a plurality of flexible beverage container engagement flaps integral with the generally planar wall and extending into the opening. The flexible beverage container engagement flaps have upper flap surfaces and are deformable when initially engaged by a beverage container to flex downwardly and frictionally engage an outer peripheral surface of the beverage container with the upper flap surfaces.
The flexible flaps are maintained in sufficient frictional engagement with the beverage container to maintain the beverage container at a fixed location in the opening in a stable manner.
Other features, advantages and objects of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings.